1 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Checklist

Use this checklist to coordinate tasks to help ensure that all system and storage preparation and configuration tasks are completed before starting Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster installation.

1.1 Installation Differences Between Windows and Linux or UNIX

If you are experienced with installing Oracle components in Linux or UNIX environments, then note that many manual setup tasks required on Linux or UNIX are not required on Windows. The key differences between Linux or UNIX and Windows installations are:

Startup and shutdown services

With Windows, you log in to a user account with Administrator privileges to install the Oracle Database software. You can also specify an Oracle Home User (based on a standard non-administrative Windows user account) during installation. On Linux and UNIX systems, you must create and use a software owner user account, and this user must belong to the Oracle Inventory group.
Environment variables

On Windows systems, Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) sets environment variables such as PATH, ORACLE_BASE, ORACLE_HOME, and ORACLE_SID in the registry. On Linux and UNIX systems, you must manually set these environment variables.

If you have multiple Oracle databases in an Oracle home, then only the SID of the last Oracle database is set in the registry. See Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide for Windows and UNIX for more information about managing Oracle homes.
Operating System Groups

On Windows systems, OUI creates the ORA_DBA, ORA_OPER, ORA_HOMENAME_DBA, and ORA_HOMENAME_OPER groups, which are used for operating system authentication for Oracle instances. On Linux and UNIX systems, you must create the operating system groups manually.
Account for running Oracle Universal Installer (OUI)

With Windows, you log in to a user account with Administrator privileges to install the Oracle Database software. You can also specify an Oracle Home User (based on a standard non-administrative Windows User Account) during installation. On Linux and UNIX systems, you must create and use a software owner user account, and this user must belong to the Oracle Inventory group.

1.2 System Hardware, Software and Configuration Checklists

The following tables provide lists of basic system requirements to check. This list is not comprehensive for all deployment options. For more specific details about these checks, and other configuration information, see Chapter 3 through Chapter 7.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Server Hardware Checklist
Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Environment Checklist
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Network Checklist
Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Upgrades Checklist
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Storage Configuration Tasks
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Starting the Installation Tasks

1.2.1 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Server Hardware Checklist

Review the following hardware checklist for all installations:

Table 1-1 Server Hardware Checklist for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Check	Task
	Server hardware: server make, model, core architecture, and host bus adaptors (HBA) are supported to run with Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC.
	Network Switches Public network switch, at least 1 GbE, connected to a public gateway Private network switch, at least 1 GbE, with 10 GbE recommended, dedicated for use only with other cluster member nodes. Alternatively, use InfiniBand for the interconnect.
	Random Access Memory (RAM): At least 4 GB of RAM for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster installations, including installations where you plan to install Oracle RAC..
	Temp space allocation: At least 1 GB allocated to `%TEMP%`.
	Operating System Supported in the list of supported releases listed in Section 3.5, "Identifying Software Requirements". Same operating system version running on each cluster member node
	Storage hardware: Either Storage Area Network (SAN) or Network-Attached Storage (NAS).
	Local Storage Space for Oracle Software At least 7 GB of space for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster home (Grid home). Oracle recommends that you allocate 100 GB to allow additional space for patches. At least 3.5 GB of space for the Oracle base of the Oracle Installation user for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software (Grid user). The Oracle base includes Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM log files. At least 5.8 GB of space the Oracle Database software on x86_64 platforms.
	Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Configuration completed, with IPMI administrator account information available to the Oracle Installation user If you intend to use IPMI, then ensure baseboard management controller (BMC) interfaces are configured, and have an administration account user name and password to provide when prompted during installation. For nonstandard installations, if you must change the configuration on one or more nodes after installation (for example, if you have different administrator user names and passwords for BMC interfaces on cluster nodes), then decide to reconfigure the BMC interface, or modify IPMI administrator account information after installation.

1.2.2 Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Environment Checklist

Review the following environment checklist for all installations:

Table 1-2 Environment Configuration for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC

Check	Task
	Create Users. Review Section 5.1, "Creating Groups and Users for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC" for information about the users you need to create for your specific requirements. Oracle Installation users have different requirements from Oracle Home users. User names must use only ASCII characters.
	Create mount point paths for the software executable files. Oracle recommends that you follow the guidelines for an Optimal Flexible Architecture configuration, as described in the appendix "Optimal Flexible Architecture," in Oracle Database Installation Guide for your platform.
	Ensure that the Grid home (the Oracle home path you select for Oracle Grid Infrastructure) uses only ASCII characters This restriction includes Oracle Installation user names, which are used as a default for some home paths, as well as other directory names you may select for paths.
	Unset Oracle software environment variables. If you have set `ORA_CRS_HOME` as an environment variable, then unset it before starting an installation or upgrade. Do not use `ORA_CRS_HOME` as a user environment variable. If you have had an existing installation on your system, and you are using the same user account to install this installation, then unset the following environment variables: `ORA_CRS_HOME`; `ORACLE_HOME`; `ORA_NLS10`; `TNS_ADMIN`

1.2.3 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Network Checklist

Review this network checklist for all installations to ensure that you have the required hardware, names, and addresses for the cluster. During installation, you designate interfaces for use as public, private, or Oracle ASM interfaces. You can also designate interfaces that are in use for other purposes, and not available for Oracle Grid Infrastructure use.

Table 1-3 Network Configuration Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC

Check	Task
	Public Network Hardware: Public network switch (redundant switches recommended) connected to a public gateway and to the public interface ports for each cluster member node. Ethernet interface card. Redundant network cards recommended; use NIC teaming so they appear as one Ethernet port name. The switches and network interface cards must be at least 1 GbE. The network protocol is TCP/IP.
	Private Network Hardware for the Interconnect Private dedicated network switch (redundant switches recommended, with NIC teaming so they appear as one Ethernet port name), connected to the private interface ports for each cluster member node. The switches and network interface adapters must be at least 1 GbE, with 10 GbE recommended. Alternatively, use InfiniBand for the interconnect.
	Perform Windows-specific network configuration tasks, such as: Disable the Media Sensing Feature for TCP/IP. Media Sense allows Windows to uncouple an IP address from a network interface card when the link to the local switch is lost. Configure the Network Binding Order and Protocol Priorities. Ensure that your public network adapter is first in the binding order, and the private network adapter is second Deselect Automatic Registration with DNS for the Public Network Interface. To prevent Windows Server 2008 from potentially registering the wrong IP addresses for the node in DNS after a server restart, you must deconfigure the "Register this connection's addresses in DNS" option for the public network adapters. Manually configure automatic metric values. Windows Server 2012 introduced the Automatic Metric, a new feature that automatically configures the metric for the local routes that are based on link speed. If you use the default values for this feature, OUI sometimes selects the private network interface as the default public host name for the server when installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure. Verify privileges for copying files to other nodes in the cluster. During installation, OUI copies the software from the local node to the remote nodes in the cluster. Verify that you have Administrator privileges on the other nodes in the cluster. For more information about these tasks, refer to Section 4.1.6, "Network Configuration Tasks for Windows Server Deployments."
	Cluster Names and Addresses: Determine and configure the following names and addresses for the cluster: Cluster name: The name for the cluster, which is entered during installation. The cluster name must be globally unique across all hosts, even across different DNS domains. The cluster name must be at least one character long and no more than 15 characters long. The cluster name should use the same set of characters that is used for host names, in accordance with RFC 1123: Hyphens (-), and single-byte alphanumeric characters (a to z, A to Z, and 0 to 9). Grid Naming Service Virtual IP Address (GNS VIP): If you plan to use GNS, then configure a GNS name and fixed address on the DNS for GNS VIP, and cluster addresses. GNS domain delegation is mandatory with dynamic public networks (DHCP, autoconfiguration). Single Client Access Name (SCAN) and addresses when using GNS: Do not configure SCAN names and addresses in your DNS. GNS manages the SCANs. Manual configuration of SCAN and addresses: If you are not using GNS, then configure a SCAN name to resolve to three addresses on the domain name service (DNS).
	Standard Node Public, Private and Virtual IP names and Addresses:. If you are configuring a Standard cluster with Grid Naming Service (GNS), then OUI displays the public and virtual host name addresses labeled as "AUTO" because they are configured automatically. To use this option, you must have configured a subdomain on your DNS that is delegated to GNS for resolution, and you must have a fixed GNS VIP address where the delegated service requests can be routed. If you are not using GNS, and you are configuring a Standard cluster, then configure the following for each node: Public node name and address, configured on the DNS and in the `hosts` (for example, node1.example.com, address 192.0.2.10}. The public node name should be the primary host name of each node, which is the name displayed by the `hostname` command. Private node address, configured on the private interface for each node. The installer identifies addresses in the private range as private IP addresses by default. For example: 10.0.0.10 The private subnet that the private interfaces use must connect all the nodes you intend to have as cluster members. Public node virtual IP name and address (for example, node1-vip.example.com, address 192.0.2.11) If you are not using GNS, then determine a virtual host name for each node. A virtual host name is a public node name that enables the rerouting of client requests sent to the node if the node is down. Oracle Database uses VIPs for client-to-database connections, so the VIP address must be publicly accessible. Oracle recommends that you provide a name in the format hostname-vip. For example: `myclstr2-vip`.

1.2.4 Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Upgrades Checklist

Review this upgrade checklist if you have an existing Oracle Grid Infrastructure or Oracle RAC installation. A cluster is being upgraded until all cluster member nodes run Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 1 (12.1), and the new clusterware becomes the active release.

Note:

On the Windows platform, to upgrade Oracle Clusterware from releases 10.2.0.5 and 11.1.0.7 to release 12.1, you must perform an interim upgrade to 11.2.0.3 for Oracle Clusterware. After upgrading Oracle Clusterware to release 11.2.0.3, you must move the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting disk (VDSK) to Oracle ASM. You must also move any files stored on OCFS on Windows or RAW devices to a supported storage mechanism. You can then upgrade Oracle Clusterware release 11.2.0.3 to 12c Release 1 (12.1).

If you intend to install Oracle RAC, then you must first complete the upgrade to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 1 (12.1) on all cluster nodes before you install the Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) release of Oracle RAC.

Note:

All Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrades (upgrades of existing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM installations) are out-of-place upgrades.

Table 1-4 Installation Upgrades Checklist for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Check	Task
	Review Oracle Database Upgrade Guide
	Install the latest available patchset release
	Confirm that the Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) instances use standard Oracle ASM instance names. The default ASM SID for a single-instance database is `+ASM`, and the default SID for ASM on Oracle Real Application Clusters nodes is `+ASMnode#`, where `node#` is the node number. With Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11.2.0.1 and later, nondefault Oracle ASM instance names are not supported.. If you have nondefault Oracle ASM instance names, then before you upgrade your cluster, use your existing release `srvctl` to remove individual Oracle ASM instances with nondefault names, and add Oracle ASM instances with default names.
	Check Network Addresses for Standard Oracle Grid Infrastructure deployments to ensure the following IP addresses conditions for the public and private networks are met: The private and public IP addresses are in unrelated, separate subnets. The private subnet should be in a dedicated private subnet. The public and virtual IP addresses, including SCAN addresses, are in the same subnet (the range of addresses permitted by the subnet mask for the subnet network). Neither private nor public IP addresses use a link local subnet (169.254..).
	Confirm that you are using a supported operating system, patch release, and all required operating system packages for the new Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation.
	Run the ocrcheck command to confirm Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) file integrity. If this check fails, then repair the OCRs before proceeding.
	Review Oracle 12c Upgrade Companion (My Oracle Support Note 1462240.1) for the most current information regarding other upgrade issues: `https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=1462240.1`
	Run the Oracle Database Pre-Upgrade utility SQL script that is located in the path `%ORACLE_HOME%\rdbms\admin` after you complete the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation to prepare your databases for upgrades. For more information, review My Oracle Support note 884522.1: `https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=884522.1`

1.2.5 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Storage Configuration Tasks

Review the following storage configuration task checklist for all installations:

Table 1-5 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Storage Configuration Checks

Check	Task
	During installation, you are asked to provide paths for the following Oracle Clusterware files. These files must be shared across all nodes of the cluster on Oracle ASM because the files created during installation must be available to all cluster member nodes. Voting files are files that Oracle Clusterware uses to verify cluster node membership and status. Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) files contain cluster and database configuration information for Oracle Clusterware.

Check

Task

During installation, you are asked to provide paths for the following Oracle Clusterware files. These files must be shared across all nodes of the cluster on Oracle ASM because the files created during installation must be available to all cluster member nodes.

Voting files are files that Oracle Clusterware uses to verify cluster node membership and status.
Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) files contain cluster and database configuration information for Oracle Clusterware.

1.2.6 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Starting the Installation Tasks

Table 1-6 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Checks to Perform Before Starting the Installer

Check	Task
	Check running Oracle processes, and shut down if necessary: On a node with a standalone database not using Oracle ASM: You do not need to shut down the database while you install Oracle Grid Infrastructure. On an Oracle RAC Database node: This installation requires an upgrade of Oracle Clusterware, as Oracle Clusterware is required to run Oracle RAC. As part of the upgrade, you must shut down the database one node at a time as the rolling upgrade proceeds from node to node.
	Ensure scheduled tasks do not run during installation If the installer is running when daily scheduled tasks start, then you may encounter unexplained installation problems if your scheduled task is performing cleanup, and temporary files are deleted before the installation is finished. Oracle recommends that you complete installation before daily scheduled tasks are run, or disable daily scheduled tasks that perform file and directory cleanup until after the installation completes.
	Decide to install other languages During installation, you are asked if you want the user interface text translated into languages other than the default, which is English. If the language set for the operating system is not supported by the installer, then by default the installer runs in the English language. Refer to Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for detailed information about character sets and language configuration.
	Obtain proxy realm authentication information if you have a proxy realm on your network During installation, the installer attempts to download Oracle software updates. If you have a proxy realm configured, then you must provide the proxy realm information and user authentication information to access the Internet through the proxy service. If you do not have a proxy realm, then leave the proxy authentication fields blank.
	Install the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository. When performing an Advanced installation of Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 12.1.0.1, select the option to install the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository to monitor and analyze cluster performance. For Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 12.1.0.2 and later the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository is installed automatically. If you do not install the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository, then you permanently disable the following features for your installation: Cluster Health Monitor Quality of Service Management Memory Guard If you decide later that you want to enable these features, then you must reinstall Oracle Grid Infrastructure with the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository.